Spanish Vocabulary: An Etymological Approach

Introduction

Introduction An English speaker learning Spanish starts with one huge, though generally underutilized, advantage: he or she is already speaking a Romance language, and with a little bit of help, can easily recognize and learn to use a very large number of Spanish words. The “romance” of English may come as a surprise to those who have been taught that English is a Germanic language. Nonetheless, in terms of its vocabulary, English is overwhelmingly Latinate; in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, for example, there are more than twice as many LatinRomance words as Germanic ones. Of course, one does not learn words in a foreign language simply by noting their similarities with English words; rather, the basic familiarity that exists (or that with a little practice can be seen to exist) can help one to remember new words and to recognize them the next time they are encountered and, after a while, to be able to begin using them naturally (in both speaking and writing). Consider the following seven words: Spanish English hecho fact dicho saying, proverb pecho chest estrecho narrow derecho right, straight techo roof leche milk If you haven’t studied much Spanish already, chances are that the Spanish words are not instantly recognizable. What you would normally do is look them up in the dictionary and, probably, not remember their definitions (certainly not all of them) the next time you see them. This is the list (or “telephone book”) approach to learning vocabulary.  In terms of frequency of usage, Germanic words dominate; in terms of simple word numbers, Latin and Romance ones do. The issue of English as a “Germanic” versus “Romance” language will be revisited in Section .. T4311.indb 1 T4311.indb 1 8/31/07 6:42:36 AM 8/31/07 6:42:36 AM  INTRODUC TION There is an alternative approach: Spanish Latin Similar English Word hecho factum fact dicho dictum dictum, edict pecho pectus pectoral estrecho strictus strict derecho directus direct, rectum techo tectum (pro)tect leche lactem lactose where the middle column represents the common Latin origin of the corresponding Spanish and English words. Several points can immediately be noted: (a) in each case, Spanish has changed Latin CT to ch; (b)in several cases, the vowel has changed; (c) the final Latin UM or US has become Spanish o, while the final EM in LACTEM has become e; (d) an initial e has been added to estrecho; (e) the F in FACTUM has been converted into a silent h in Spanish. Each of these characteristics is in fact a very frequent occurrence in Spanish, as we will see in Part III. We note also that the English equivalents of the Latin roots do not always have the identical meaning of the corresponding Spanish word, but in all cases they are at least suggestive and, more importantly, easy to remember. We may not know too much about lactose, but most of us know that it is in milk and that some people have problems digesting it (hence lactose-free milk in the supermarkets ). Similarly, “narrow” and “strict” are not perfect synonyms, but they do have overlapping meanings, since a “strict interpretation” is a “narrow” one. And how about derecho, and what is its possible connection with rectum? Latin directus meant “in a straight line”, hence “direct”, and is the origin of Spanish derecho meaning “right”, both in terms of direction (“directly ahead”, “the right-hand one”) and “law”. rectus, “straight”, leads to rectum intestinum , the “straight intestine”, shortened in English and Spanish to rectum and recto, respectively. Finally, techo is easily remembered because it (pro)tects us from the elements.  The same lac(t)- appears in galactic and galaxy (from Greek), the inspiration for the Milky Way (a translation of Latin via lactea). T4311.indb 2 T4311.indb 2 8/31/07 6:42:36 AM 8/31/07 6:42:36 AM INTRODUC TION  Apart from being an effective learning tool, this alternative to the “telephone book” approach can help convert vocabulary learning from an essentially painful process with no immediate reward to an enjoyable one with both immediate and longer-term benefits: (a) It provides valuable insights into the history of both the Spanish language and the Spanish-speaking peoples. (b)It provides an opportunity to deepen one’s understanding of English (e.g., how many people are aware that the English word check comes— via Persian, Arabic...